Jim and Fernando, I think we are all missing the point: what does the oil want? I mean, it can't be easy. First of all, you are taken from your home, where you have lived for who knows how many years, and pushed through a relatively small opening out into a harsh environment. This sounds much like the process of birth, and we all know that babies cry after suffering through that.

Then you are separated from your family and friends and put in cold, unfeeling barrels. How much fun can that be? Next, you are probably going to be "refined". What if the oil doesn't want to be "refined"? Maybe it is happy just the way it is? And I don't know that much about the refinement process, but it does not sound like fun.

Finally, after all that, you end up being burned to death in an internal combustion engine! Someone stop the insanity!

As I write this, I am forming an organization called PETROL - People for the Ethical Treatment of Refined Oil Lubricants. I will be driving around the country in a sport utility vehicle to promote it.

>I don't have more information on this, but I can tell you that the U.S. media has for some time been telling us certain things about the state of the oil production facilities that undoubtedly have been calculated to "make the case" for privatization.
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>Mainly they talk about the age of the technology in place in Iraq, saying at every opportunity that 'it will all need to be replaced' and sometimes throwing in that this is 'a very expensive proposition', leaving it to the listener to conclude that this is best done by the private sector.
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>When I hear this I always ask myself things like I wonder how they have been able to bank so much money in the "food for oil" program if this is the case?... or how come their people are able to pay only 12¢ per gallon if this is the case?... or how come Syria and Jordan can buy Iraqi oil while all the above happens??? In other words, they have been able to produce significant amounts of oil for themselves and the world with all this antiquated equipment, so WHY would it need replacing?!?! And all this under embargo that prevents the delivery of parts and equipment to repair things as they break (possible 'dual-use')! I see only one answer - as the excuse to denationalize it.
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>Remember, the oil will still "belong to the Iraqi people" even if privatized because they will continue to receive royalties for the oil. That it will drive up prices for the Iraqi people and that it will make extreme hardship for Jordan and Syria is immaterial, and the latter is undoubtedly helpful in the long run to make regime changes there too.
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>It will be very sad, but not surprising at all, if the oil is DEnationalized very soon in the future. After all, this is one of the "values" of democracy.